Grace Brethren Church Columbus, OH
(“The Rising”) (Mega church)
Call their area of student leadership: Forerunners. They take the idea of ‘giftings’ described in Ephesians 4 (i.e. evangelists, teachers) and say that students also have certain bents or giftings that the Lord has created them with. The challenge is for them to go the extra mile in this particular identified area of gifting. On a practical level, the selection of these leadership students is a ‘one at a time’ type selection. Where basically, the youth pastor opens up the Forerunner opportunity to anyone interested, regardless of current spiritual maturity. It essentially becomes a commitment to spend time with the youth pastor and vice versa. These students have input on programming elements and are specifically trained to be ‘ambassadors’ to the other students, in terms of using consistent language that will unite the youth, and not create a separatist ‘holier than thou’ attitude for student leaders.
First Baptist Church Indianapolis, IN (appx 300 members)
This ministry considers a student leader to be someone who in their words will “take a stand for Christ”. They are looking for a student who will not be embarrassed or feel forced to act immature when addressing spiritual issues and/or while helping lead an element of programming at a normal youth group event. They expect that any student leader would be someone who is acting in regular evangelistic activity (though loosely defined), at the very least bringing friends with them to group meetings, and taking special care to make others feel welcome at youth events. There are no titles or specific extra commitments that ‘student leaders’ must take.
Young Life Northeast Columbus Region, OH
(large/active area for YL)
The basic process of Young Life is the entry level of ‘Club’, which is very surface, then onto ‘Campaigners’, which is a place to dig deeper into the details of the faith. The staff of Northeast Columbus Young Life looks for student leaders to emerge from within the context of these two areas. Being an ‘up-front’ person in the Club setting is not necessarily what makes a student leader. Rather it is the student who is serving in whatever ways possible that distinguishes them from others. The most common areas available are coming early to groups to set-up, helping plan the calendar events for the year and attending Work Crew during the summer. The only real expectation put on these students, or perhaps better stated, is an unspoken pre-requisite, is that they be involved in some sort of expanded discipleship and/or mentoring relationship with one of the staff leaders through regular one-on-one time, or in a small group setting (not including campaigners).
Vineyard Columbus, OH
(Mega church – High School Only)
The role of student leader in this youth ministry is open for application from any student in grades 10-12. Each fall, there is an interest meeting held where students are given an application to fill-out, which requires much detail and includes references. Once an applicant is approved, there are a number of expectations placed on them:
They are required to be members of the church, be involved in some small group community, they must attend the monthly (though often just bi-monthly) student leader training meetings and they must be involved in a mentoring/discipleship relationship with an adult youth leader. These students wear name badges to youth events with a different color background distinguishing them as leaders. They are expected to help out at all events, whether that is through coordination of event programming, or through assisting in any service oriented tasks. They are also required to be in charge of contacting new students visiting their youth ministry. And finally, though not technically required, they are highly encouraged to a part of the leadership support team on their annual international missions trip.
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My Definition
When I talk to others about my student leaders, I call them…brace yourself…student leaders. The specific invitation in our youth ministry (Thirsty Uth) to student leadership comes from either a specific request of the student of ‘how can I get more involved’ or from a specific statement from one of the adult youth leaders saying ‘I see you as a leader among your peers’. Our programming is generally a stepping stone type set-up (assuming the person being introduced is not a believer…obviously people can join in at different levels). Big eventàLarge Group Meeting (Encounter) Small Group (BOX groups…based on Christ)àMinistry TeamsàIndividual Discipleship/Mentoring/Leadership Role The mission statement of our church and youth ministry is the same: ‘A family of faith on a mission to know and make known the fullness of life in Jesus Christ’. To me, a student leader is the student who has demonstrated that his or her intent is to be committed to that mission. I believe this loose definition leaves appropriate leeway for the youth leaders to determine the ‘commitment’ of each student on an individual basis. We have an expectation, communicated…though not as an official requirement, that a student leader would: have shown consistency in involvement over a non-defined period of time, be involved in some sort of small group and or discipleship/mentoring relationship, and that they would be involved in some level of personal ministry (determined individually according to that student’s gifting). With this type of operational definition, the number of student leaders is changing regularly each year, but generally in an increasing number, since there are always more areas of service available, and that requires new members of the family, on mission, to serve in them.
One slightly ambiguous, but over-riding factor, in defining a student leader to me is Influence. The trick here is acknowledging the peer-influence of the un-committed student while reinforcing the preferred version of influence, which comes from the overflow of a heart on mission to know Jesus Christ. (These student leaders with hearts that are on mission can obviously still be high peer-influence types…it’s just not required.) (…but man…it sure is funner when they are!) (Yes, I know funner is not an official word…yet).
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